The national budget has been presented and the public has soon forgotten about it. Possibly because of the reduced hype over its presentation these days, the interest in it wanes very quickly. In the recent past, the budget was read by a cabinet...

Small and medium entrepreneurs (SMEs) face a myriad of challenges. These range from lack of seed capital, lack of credit, access to markets to lack of book-keeping, accounting and management skills. Helping solve these challenges is the reason...

When I was young we used to learn in school that agriculture was the backbone of our economy. We were made to recite and repeat that statement so many times that it got ingrained in my memory.Though I did not understand what it meant at that...

Farmers in Kenya are a very resilient and versatile lot. They have a nose for what will work and what will not work. They are also very adaptable to new farming ideas. Yet they continue languishing in poverty. Even their attempts at food crop...

Sometime back, Igembe South MP Mithika Linturi blasted the Senate as a house of “old people, political retirees and idlers”. Coming at a time when the two houses of Parliament were engaging in a supremacy battle, with each claiming its authority over the other, the unfortunate slur did not come as a surprise. In fact, since the coming into effect of the devolved system of government after the 2013 general elections, the two houses of Parliament as established by Chapter Eight of the constitution...

Kenya has many public institutions that deserve accolades for the distinguished dedication in offering services to Kenyans. Tragically, there is one institution which deserves to be celebrated but is often castigated with the harshest of words. Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), the lifeline for majority of Kenyans who depend on the public health system, is always on the receiving end of criticism. Granted, KNH has had its failings. There have been cases of negligence, staff who are utterly heart...

Kenya is a country where every decision is mainly premised on the myopic baseline of ethnicity and political machinations. Being a country where ethnicity and political inclination have been elevated way beyond cohesion, patriotism and development, every state move is often interpreted on the assumption of “which tribe or political group(ing) is being targeted for silencing”.

It was Benjamin Dana who said that there has been opposition to every innovation in the history of man, with the possible exception of the sword. But yet again Victor Hugo once remarked that you can resist an invading army but you cannot resist an idea whose time has come. Although these two gentlemen uttered these words in different historical times, they must have had premonitions of Kenya in modern times. Over the past two years, Kenya has been engulfed in a raging debate over the digital mig...

This year has started with a major African sporting event. The Africa Cup of Nations 2015 in Equatorial Guinea has in some ways aroused the spirits of the continent particularly for the participating nations. Though it is visibly evident the tournament has lost its past allure, going by the fact that even national broadcaster KBC did not see the need to broadcast the matches in the country live, the event was yet again a stark reminder of just how deep in the abyss sports in the country have sun...

Trying to make predictions for the future is never easy. However, looking back and analyzing the events that characterised a period gone by, more often than not, leaves a bitter sweet taste in the month. Here is the point am standing at as we prepare to bid 2014 good bye and usher in 2015.

Consensus has always been that Kenya is a sleeping giant that has always failed to rise to her full potential. Until slightly over a decade ago, the country was literally on a standstill in terms of economic growth. In recent years, however, Kenya has projected positive growth trajectory despite the 2008 blip.

In recent weeks, Kenyans have witnessed a troubling circus involving the standard gauge railway project (SGR). Since President Uhuru launched the construction of the multibillion project in late November last year, the political and boardroom scenes have been awash with all manners of allegations, accusations and counter-accusations that the project is a mega scandal in the making. Before rushing into the bandwagon of the circus, it is important to be clear of a basic fact.

Africa is not known to produce great leaders. For the better part of the 19th and 20th century, the continent was largely notorious for producing despots, scoundrels and outright buffoons. In fact, while most of the forefathers who led bloody battles for independence were hailed as freedom fighters and heroes, majority would later transform to dictators and went to their graves as villains. The exemptions were few.

Former celebrated Safaricom chief executive Michael Joseph once described Kenyans as “peculiar” people. Going by the current hullabaloo over the constitution, it is conspicuous that Joseph was spot on. In deed as Kenyans mark four years since the promulgation of the constitution, the peculiarity of Kenyans is in full display.